For Better or Worse
by IluvPeterPetrelli
Summary: Puckleberry futurefic, I suck at summaries. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I own nothing, I only wish I did.

Noah Puckerman-24  
Rachel Puckerman-23  
Nathaniel Puckerman-5  
Rebecca Puckerman-3  
They live in Lima.

* * *

"Nathan please, get down from there you are going to hurt yourself." Rachel said chasing after her daughter, around the living room while Nathan continued jumping on the couch. "Nathaniel I said get down, now."

"No! I don't want to." Nathan said giving her the Puckerman smirk.

"Time out now!" Rachel said grabbing him with her right arm and snagging Becca with her left as she ran by. "It's time for your bath missy." Rachel deposited Nathan in time out and took Becca into the bath.

"No bath!" Becca started screaming as soon as they got into the bathroom.

"You have to take a bath sweetie, you don't want to be stinky." Rachel said beginning to fill up the tub.

"No!" Becca began sobbing and trying to escape her mother's arms.

"You have to take your bath." Rachel stuck Becca in the bath and put her favorite bath toys in with her, "Do you want to play with your ducky, or your boat?"

"No!" Rachel sighed and leaned against the cabinet until she heard a noise that sounded like toys come from the living room.

"Stay in the bath." Rachel said going to the living room to see Nathan playing with his trains in the living room. "You are supposed to be in time out."

"I don't want to be in time out."

"To bad, you should have listened to me when I told you to stop jumping on the couch. Now get back in time out, and since you left you get to sit in time out for longer." Nathan started pouting.

"Your mean."

"Time out, now!" Rachel watched him sulk back to the chair and saw a naked little girl run past her. "Becca, what are you doing?"

"No bath!" Becca screamed running farther away from her mom. Rachel heard the front door open, "Daddy!"

"Hey cutie pie." Noah said scooping Becca up into his arms, "What are you doing?"

"No bath!"

"No bath, you don't want to take your bath? I love taking baths." Noah walked into the bathroom and deposited Becca back into the bathtub. Hearing the bedroom door slam he quickly bathed Becca and put her into her pajamas and they walked back downstairs into the living room.

"Hi dad." Nathan said quietly from time out.

"What's going on buddy, why are you in time out?" Noah asked sitting on the floor next to the chair.

"I didn't listen to mommy."

"I thought we talked about listening to mommy, what happened?"

"I got tired of being good." Noah sighed seeing so much of himself in his son.

"Buddy you have to be good and listen to mommy. Mommy only wants you to be safe because she loves you so much and it hurts her feelings when you don't listen to her."

"I know."

"Okay, good." Noah ruffled his son's hair and stood up, "I'll go ask mommy if you have done your time." Noah walked upstairs to their bedroom and saw her lying in the middle of the bed. "Rach, can Nathan get up?"

"Whatever, I don't care."

"Hey, don't be like that. Has he done his time or not?"

"Yes, he can leave." Noah started walking out, "Your dinner is in the microwave."

"Thanks." Noah said turning around and smiling at his wife. On Thursdays he stayed late at the garage and she always had dinner waiting for him when he got home.

"Nathan, you can leave but you have to go apologize to your mom."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, you hurt her feelings. Go apologize and we can play some before bed." Nathan walked off while Noah warmed his dinner up and got some cookies for Becca and Nathan. "Hey, Becca you want some cookies?"

"And milk?"

"Of course."

"Okay." Becca ran over to her dad and the two of them set down at the table, Nathan joined them a few minutes later.

Noah laughed has his children filled him in on their days. After he finished his dinner and they finished their cookies they went and played candy land.

"Okay, bed time." Noah scooped Becca up, "You too buddy."

"Dad, we don't have the same bedtime."

"You do tonight because you didn't listen to your mom."

"That's so not fair."

"Maybe next time you will remember this before you are bad. Now come on."

"Will mommy still sing to me?" Nathan asked walking upstairs with Noah and Becca following him.

"I'll go get her while you two go get in your beds, deal?"

"Deal." Both Becca and Nathan said walking into their bedrooms. Noah went and got Rachel from their room and they sang their kids to sleep before walking back into their bedroom.

"You okay?" Noah asked laying down on the bed.

"Just peachy." Rachel said sitting down at the desk and opening her laptop.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You really think I am going to believe that nothing is wrong, I know you better than that."

"Could you please just drop this, I don't feel like getting into it tonight. I need to input grades and I am tired." Rachel was working on her masters in teaching, and was student teaching at the high school. Rachel heard the bathroom door slam and the shower turn on.

Sighing Rachel closed her laptop deciding that she didn't feel like finishing tonight and put her pajamas on before slipping into bed. In the beginning of their relationship and marriage she would have followed him into the bathroom and they would have fixed this. She would apologize and tell him what was bothering him and he would make it better, or they would yell at each other until she finally told him the problem and he would make it better. Either way they would fix the problem and they would have incredible mind blowing sex, now she would rather go to bed alone and not have to deal with the drama. Rachel knew this was not healthy, but after going to school all day and dealing with two children she didn't have the energy.

Rachel woke up the next morning when she felt the weight of a body on top of her, opening her eyes she saw Becca sitting on top of her.

"Good morning baby." Rachel said giving Becca a kiss.

"Hi mommy." Becca said giving her a cheeky grin.

"Bex, come back here." Noah said walking into the room, "Sorry, I was trying to get to her before she woke you up."

"It's okay." Rachel said hugging Becca, "I love snuggling with my baby." Becca gave her another kiss before climbing back down the bed and out the door. Rachel looked at the clock and saw that it said 6:45.

"I wanted to let you sleep in a little." Noah said when he noticed her looking at the clock, "I was going to come get you up in a minute."

"Thanks." Rachel said sitting up in bed, "Both kids eat?" Noah nodded his head in the affirmative, "Have you made their lunches yet?"

"Not yet, we were watching cartoons." Rachel laughed out loud and smiled, sometimes it was like she had three kids.

"You want to make lunches and I will get them dressed?" Rachel asked slipping out of bed.

"Sure. Hey, you okay?" Noah asked grabbing her wrist before she could walk out of the room.

"Yes, I was just tired last night. Thanks for letting me sleep in this morning." Rachel said giving him a kiss on his cheek. Noah watched her walk out knowing that she was still unhappy but having no idea what to do to fix it.

Rachel dropped the kids of at the babysitters and kindergarten before going to school. The day passed by uneventfully and she stayed after doing the grading from the day before, when she got a text from Noah saying that he was going to pick up the kids. At 4:45 she opened the front door and was surprised to hear silence throughout the house.

"Noah." She yelled into the silent house.

"Upstairs." Rachel climbed the stairs to their bedroom and saw him coming out of the bathroom with a towel slung low on his hips, "Hey babe."

"Hi, umm…where are the kids?"

"With your dads."

"Okay, why?"

"I thought it might be nice for us to have a children free evening?"

"I don't recall those ever existing."

"They used to happen, and in the mornings you got to sleep past 7."

"That sounds wonderful. I could sleep for days." Rachel said falling into bed, "Can we just sleep all night?" Rachel asked her voice muffled from being pressed into the bed.

"I guess. I was hoping for something a little more exciting."

"What did you have in mind?" Rachel asked turning her head to face Noah.

"Dinner would be nice."

"Someplace without toys?"

"Of course, only the best for my baby mama." Rachel giggled, recalling the nickname he had used when she was 18 and pregnant with Nathan.

"I'm more than your baby mama now, you put a ring on it." Rachel said holding up her left hand and turning on her back.

"You will always be my baby mama, at least until you win the lottery and then you will be my sugar mama."

"That the only reasons you keep me around?"

"Pretty much, and you have a hot bod." Rachel scoffed as he said this.

"I am not hot, especially after two kids."

"From where I am standing you are the sexiest woman on the planet."

"Flattery will get you nowhere Mr. Puckerman. Now help me up so I can get ready for dinner." Rachel said holding her hand out to be pulled up, "Thanks." Rachel said walking into the bathroom. Rachel quickly showered and got dressed and walked downstairs to find Noah watching ESPN in the living room.

"I'm ready whenever you are." Noah stood up and turned to Rachel.

"Wow, you look amazing." Noah said checking her out in a red dress, he always loved her in red, "You look sexy, totally fuckable."

"Don't be so crass."

"You can't blame me, I mean have you seen yourself I am one lucky son of a bitch." Rachel's blushed deepened.

"You look pretty good too." He was wearing a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, "Your arms look lovely." Noah laughed out loud.

"It's cuz I'm a badass." Rachel smiled.

"You ready to go, because I am starving."

"Almost, I have to do one more thing."

"What?"

"Kiss you." Noah said snagging her around the waist and pulling her to him before pressing his lips to hers. Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck and melted into the kiss, "That's the first kiss I have gotten all day." Noah said once they broke apart. Rachel was about to say that she had kissed him this morning, but realized she couldn't remember the last time she had kissed him.

"Next time take some initiative and kiss me." Rachel said before pressing her lips back to his, "It worked well for you this time."

"This is true. Let's go."

After dinner Noah drove them to the football field at the high school.

"What are we doing?"

"Hanging out."

"At the football field?"

"Fresh air will be good for us."

"I get plenty of fresh air, I play outside with the kids all the time."

"Fine we are here because the bleachers are kind of our place." Noah leaned over and grabbed a bottle of tequila from the glove compartment, "Just humor me." Noah got out of the car and Rachel followed him.

"I am not drinking here."

"You used to do it all the time."

"I used to be 17 and I work here now."

"You know you want to." Noah said taking a swig.

"We are parents, we can not be acting recklessly."

"Not tonight, tonight we are a 23 and 24 year old out on a date." Noah took another swig, "Babe you are to young to be acting so old. Think about what a normal 23 year old would be doing on a Friday night, this isn't half as bad."

"Normal 23 year olds also don't have two kids."

"Babe, stop acting like my mom." Rachel glared at Noah, because even though she loved her mother-in-law she hated to be compared to her.

"Fuck you." Rachel said grabbing the bottle and taking a swig.

"Works every time." Noah leaned back and took the bottle back from Rachel, "By the way, I still can't believe you broke up with me."

"Are you still not over that?"

"I think it will always hurt on some level, I was rejected by my wife, that's harsh." Rachel punched him in the arm and took the bottle back from him.

"Like having slushies thrown on you by your future husband?"

"Touché." Rachel laughed and took another swig, "Do you ever think of what would have happened if we would have gotten our shit together before senior year?"

"I would have had Nathan at 16."

"I'm being serious."

"So am I." Rachel and Noah lapsed into a comfortable silence passing the bottle back and forth. Rachel unbuckled her shoes and started walking down the bleachers to the opposite side from Noah.

"_Don't tell me not to live, Just sit and putter, life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter. Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade. Don't tell me not to fly-I've simply got to. If someone takes a spill, it's me and not you. Who told you you're allowed To rain on my parade!" _Rachel began belting out her favorite song and tried to do a turn on the bleachers but fell instead.

"Rach, you okay?" Noah asked standing up and walking over to her.

"Yes." Rachel replied giggling.

"You're tipsy." Noah said sticking out his hand to help her up.

"Just a little bit." Rachel said holding her fingers slightly apart, which caused her to giggle even harder.

"It's been a long time since I have seen you tipsy, think I can get you drunk?"

"Not a chance."

"How about we sit down."

"Okay." Rachel sat down next to Noah and rested her head on his shoulder and began humming 'Don't rain on my parade', after she finished with that song she started humming 'Sex on fire.'

"Do you resent me?"

"What?" Rachel asked picking her head up off his shoulder to look at him, "Why would I resent you?"

"I stopped you from achieving your dreams."

"How do you figure?"

"I knocked you up when we were still in high school and you never made it out of Lima."

"If I remember correctly it takes two to make a baby."

"Don't be a smartass."

"No, I don't resent you. Why would you think that?"

"Look at our life Rach, something isn't right."

"We are busy and raising two kids, I think its pretty normal."

"No it's not, at least not for us." Noah said running a hand over his face, "We have kissed one time today, when you were 17 and had mono we made out all day."

"We were young and in love, still in that honeymoon stage."

"We are still young and we could be in that honeymoon stage again, all it takes is a little more effort now. I think tonight proves that we are still pretty good together."

"We are great together." There was an awkward silence that settled, after a moment Rachel moved so she was sitting in front of him, "Do you still love me?"

"How can you even ask me that, of course I love you." Noah replied a little more angrily than he intended to.

"How can I ask you that, how can you ask me if I resent you?" Rachel screamed back.

"Seems like a pretty logical thing to ask since you have given up on our marriage."

"How can you say that?"

"Because I see it everyday."

"Me taking care of your children, cleaning and cooking for you is me giving up on our marriage."

"That's not what I am talking about and you know it. The fact that you don't talk to me anymore is the reason I think you have given up on our marriage."

"I'm just stressed out."

"Even now you can't be honest with me. I'm not saying you aren't stressed out because I am amazed at all the things you do. You are raising our kids and doing an amazing job at it, and you are going to school. I admire you because pick up all of the slack and keep our family running." Noah said lowering his voice.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Rachel said interrupting him, "You work so hard to make sure our family has everything we need and every night you come home and spend as much time as possible with our kids, your pretty amazing yourself. Plus you have kept your promise to my fathers that I would go to college and that having a baby wouldn't stop me from getting my education."

"I still don't do enough. Will you please tell me what is going on with you?" Rachel looked down at her feet and started messing with the ends of her hair, "Babe, we have always told each other everything why stop now?"

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Unless you tell me you are having an affair and are leaving me, I think I can handle it. Plus maybe I will be able to help."

"I'm afraid." Rachel said softly.

"Of what?"

"You leaving me. Looking back in 50 years and resenting my life. Stupid things like that."

"Babe, those aren't stupid but they are some pretty big 'what ifs'." Noah grabbed her hand, "Why do you think I would leave you?"

"I don't know, they are probably stupid reasons."

"If they are making you feel like this than they are not stupid reasons. Babe we have got to talk about this or our marriage is going to end because we are going to get pulled further and further away from each other and I never want that to happen." Noah began rubbing circles on her wrist with his thumb. "Why would I leave you?"

"Because I don't look like the girl you married and I talk to much. Plus everyone always said you would leave me and I have had two kids so my body isn't the same. What's keeping you?"

"I sort of fell in love with because you talked to much and you were crazy. You have the best body of any woman I have ever seen, you make me so hot all the time, I love your body two kids or not. Those people also said we would not be able to take care of Nathan but we have proved them wrong, twice. I am never leaving you, because I love you and I fall even more in love with you everyday."

"I told you they were stupid reasons."

"They weren't and I am glad you told me, now about this resenting me in 50 years."

"I have never resented you or the kids, but I am so afraid that 50 years from now I am going to look back on my life and I am going to resent you guys. You know my dreams changed the moment the pregnancy test came back positive. I just don't want to look back and wish I had performed and resent my family because I didn't."

"You want to move to NY? If you do we will be on the first plane out there."

"No, I don't want to go to NY our home is here and so is our family. I don't think I could ever take the kids away from their grandparents."

"That's an easy fix then."

"Don't say we could all move to NY, because you know that would never work."

"That was my first thought but I figured you would shoot it down so I was going to say you could perform at the community theatre once you are done with school."

"Noah, I don't have the time."

"We will make the time. I will take more of the house responsibilities and without homework you will have plenty of time. Lets not worry about the details right now, just the fact that if you want to perform you are going to perform."

"You make it sound so simple."

"It is simple, you are just over thinking things like usual. It's one of the reasons I love you." Rachel let out a sob when he said I love you.

"How do you put up with me? I have been pulling away from you for months but you planned this amazing evening and fixed my problems."

"For better or worse." Rachel started crying harder and just kept repeating that she loved him and he was to good for her. Noah pulled her into his lap and told her that she was amazing, beautiful and he was such a lucky bastard since she was his wife.

"God, I am such a mess." Rachel said a few minutes later when she was attempting to compose herself.

"At least you're my mess. There is also the possibility that I should have brought this up sometime when you hadn't been drinking, you always get sad when you drink."

"You think?" Rachel asked laughing. "I am really am sorry that I have been acting so weird lately, everything just piles up and I kind of lose it and close up my feelings."

"Just talk to me. You force me to talk about my feelings and shit, so you should do the same thing."

"I will, from now on I promise I will talk to you. Since we are talking are you afraid of anything?"

"That we won't have enough sex."

"Noah, I am being serious."

"So am I, that is my only fear."

"You are incorrigible."

"Well you are crazy, but you don't hear me complaining." Rachel giggled and Noah stood up pulling her with him, "We still need to talk more and fix everything."

"I know, but I think we are headed in the right direction. Don't you?"

"Yes. I love you."

"I love you too." Rachel stood up on her tip toes and kissed him.

"Want to do it?" Noah whispered into her ear sending a shiver through her body.

"Noah!" Rachel said hitting him in the chest.

"What? It's worked before, in this very spot. The bleachers are kind of our spot."

"You are not going to pressure me into this like with the drinking. I work here and I am a mother, I am not having sex on the bleachers. I am a respectable woman."

"I know all the kinky things you do, I am not so sure you are a respectable woman." Noah said laughing.

"I would advise you to shut up, if you ever want to touch this again." Rachel said walking away and grabbing her shoes, "Now if you take me home I might want to do it. Maybe I will even let you do something kinky."

* * *

A/N: I hope you guys liked it, I sort of fell in love with this story. R&R please, it would make my day.


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